I love this thread! For sure dropping silicones. It made all the difference in the world for my hair. Also not touching it when it's wet and just not touching it in general. I love the CG method all in all but those facets were major eye openers for me.

I have another. I can't SOTC empty-handed because my hair popcorns. Learned the haaaard way. So I do it with a little bit of SM coconut hibiscus milk thing mixed with a couple spritzes of lavender-conditioner water and a couple spritzes of spray gel, just kinda rub it all on my hands and go at it. No idea why that works for me since those aren't exactly finishing products, but there you go.

Cut all my damaging highlights out in a huge chop and started using Cantu's natural line, curl cream. I don't like how short my hair is right now but I can't deny the full turn around my hair has made. I'm getting my curls back after years of extreme heat damage and highlighting. I love it!

I have another. I can't SOTC empty-handed because my hair popcorns. Learned the haaaard way. So I do it with a little bit of SM coconut hibiscus milk thing mixed with a couple spritzes of lavender-conditioner water and a couple spritzes of spray gel, just kinda rub it all on my hands and go at it. No idea why that works for me since those aren't exactly finishing products, but there you go.

Not using sulfate shampoo to wash my hair has helped a lot! My hair isn't nearly as dry, so then I'm not using heavy conditioners which would weigh down my fine waves. Changing from brushing to combing with a wide toothed comb has reduced breakage and helped my hair stay healthy. Last, protein!! My hair needs and loves protein! It is limp and lifeless without it. It has made a huge difference in my hair. In fact, I'm still learning how much my hair likes protein, the amount and strength.

2 things so far for me. One being that simpler is better for me, not using 3-4 products to style my hair. Second being most important is just to love my hair the way it is. Yeah, it will get a tiny bit of frizz on the 2nd day and a little more on the 3rd, but honestly its still my wonderful, sometimes frizzy, sometimes maddening, curly hair.

Using way more conditioner than I ever thought any one person could possibly use!

Before I found this site, I knew on days I washed (with sulfates at the time), my hair was a complete failure, so I only washed once a week. But by day 4 I had this nasty gunk on my scalp (from silicones) but knew washing again would just equal horrible hair. I never thought to condition between washes, or even scrub my scalp even though I would rinse it every day in the shower. Yuck!!!! So learning to scrub my scalp daily and use conditioner and more conditioner has changed my hair.

PROTEIN. That is the biggie. I found out my hair desperately needed a lot of protein. My hair was frizzy, limp and lacked shine. I use a gelatin treatment at least once a week (twice is ideal).

ACV. I just add about a tablespoon to my PT and my hair is shiny! I have hard water.

No cones. They work OK once in awhile, but they eventually dry out my hair. I still use sulfates occasionally.

No brushing. EVER. I use a wide tooth comb and fine tooth comb in the shower on condition-soaked, finger combed hair. The fine tooth comb gets out all of the hair my other comb misses. I put it down to the fine texture of my hair. It helps me get better clumps!

SVault, CG is a method of caring for curls called Curly Girl (CG for short), and developed by Lorraine Massey. She has a book and a DVD that explains the method, and if you go to youtube and type in "Curly Girl method" or search for it here, you will find more informtion than you can imagine.